These last two weeks – actually more like last month and a half or so – have felt extremely heavy and draining to me. From personal struggles to global events, it feels like the world is upside down. All that’s really happening is that change is in the air, but it can be emotionally exhausting and that’s where I’m at right now. And Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means I’ll be feeling doubly zapped. But it’s times like these – especially when times are like these – that we really have to take stock of the full context of our situations and not just what we’re currently focused on.

Even when I feel so heavy and depleted, I can still take time to reflect on all of the things that I am grateful for – and there’s a lot for me to be grateful for. I’d been planning to write this post for a few days now, I’d just been so tired and unmotivated that I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. But then just a couple of hours ago I received an email of gratitude from one of my blog readers:

I guess I’m writing because I wanted you to know that your postings have brought me hope again. I connect with everything you write about and post. I often share your articles with friends and brag about what a talented and amazing blogger you are and pass around your name everywhere…But instead of just “liking” posts by you, I wanted you to know that your writings have profoundly helped someone to not feel so alone.

It reminded me that I needed to get off my ass and write. For me, and for the people who find hope here.

I am grateful for all of you who read my posts every day, too. I suppose I might still be here even if you weren’t, but I’d just be tossing out random thoughts to no one and helping no one but myself (which sometimes, that’s enough to keep going).

Naturally, I’m grateful for my family and my husband and my home, and all the things you’d expect a person to be grateful for.

I am grateful for the people I have met this year who have profoundly changed me, and I’m grateful for all of the things that we’ve learned from each other.

I am even grateful for the hardest things that I’ve dealt with this year, because as difficult as they were, they taught me to feel love and give love in ways that I would never have been able to otherwise.

The best part is, I’m not just grateful for these things once a year. I’m grateful for them often. Sometimes I just sit and reflect on them and it fills me with joy.

Gratitude is the foundation upon which happiness is built, and it is the end of a lesson well-learned.

Thanks for being here,

Ash

 

SUPPORT MY WORK

If you benefit from the free educational content I provide and would like to further support my ability to provide these resources, you can purchase a business consultation, or make a donation:

 

Venmo: @akk4zd